


Tsunkatse La Sirena!

by mrs_javert



Series: Tsunkatse La Sirena! [1]
Category: Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, Tsunkatse, so sorry for hurting Elnor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27405130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_javert/pseuds/mrs_javert
Summary: Elnor wanted Seven to teach him the Delta Quadrant sport of Tsunkatse.She agreed, and now La Sirena’s crew are in for one heck of a show on the holodeck.
Relationships: Agnes Jurati/Cristóbal Rios, Raffi Musiker/Seven of Nine
Series: Tsunkatse La Sirena! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024971
Comments: 8
Kudos: 27





	Tsunkatse La Sirena!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Troodster1972](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Troodster1972/gifts), [Regionalpancake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regionalpancake/gifts).



> I just really, really wanted to do a Star Trek: Picard spin on what is one of my all time favourite Star Trek: Voyager episodes - Tsunkatse!

Tsunkatse La Sirena!

The walkway outside the holodeck of La Sirena was quiet on this evening with only the ships essential systems and ambience of the engines humming away.  
The silence was broken a short time later by the murmurs of an approaching group of people, all of whom sounded a little more confused than normal even by La Sirena’s standards.  
In the lead was Captain Rios wearing his customary dark shirt, a pair of black jeans and holding a small piece of notepaper resembling a custom made invitation.  
Next to him strolled Raffi in her sleeveless dark green top and jeans, herself also holding an invitation of her own and looking more than a little perplexed as she read and reread it.  
“Do you know what any of this is about Raff?”, the Captain asked.  
Raffi shook her head as they walked, “Nope, all I know is that Enoch delivered mine an hour ago and they want us at the holodeck for 19:00 hours. Mysterioooouuus!”.  
Rios was about to respond when both he and Raffi’s attention was drawn to yet more figures walking towards them, this time from the opposite end of the ship and also seemingly heading as requested to the same venue.  
Picard, Soji and Agnes, all with a small envelope in hand and all examining thier mysterious invitations with equal bemusement.  
Uncertain of the level of formality the mysterious event required Picard had opted for a neat dark blue shirt and smart trousers, Anges a white blouse and black trousers and Soji had opted for a more relaxed long sleeved white cotton top and jeans.  
The groups converged outside the closed holodeck door, everybody looking to each other for answers with an exchange of shrugs and glances.  
“Let me guess”, Rios surveyed the faces of all around him, “none of you know anything about this or just what he hell’s going on here either?”.  
“Nope”, Agnes shrugged.  
“Nothing”, Soji shook her head.  
“I am as in the dark as the rest of you”, Picard agreed.  
“Ummm, well, it’s gotta be something to do with all the time they’ve spent in the holodeck together lately”, Raffi theorised, “Seven’s been doing some sort of training with Elnor”.  
“Not worried you’ve been traded in for a younger model are you Raff?”, Rios winked, “maybe Seven just finds those pointy ears irresistible? You know you could get yours adjusted, there’s places that cater for that sorta thing”.  
Playfully Raffi struck Rios over the back of his shoulder with a light slap which made a rather impressive sound.  
Picard stepped forward, “It’s almost 19:00 now, perhaps if we just wait here then it’ll all become clear?”.  
“Ah wonderful, wonderful, you’re all here and on time too!”, a voice gleefully announced as a set of enthusiastic footsteps approached with a fast businesslike pace.  
All heads turned and witnessed the approach of the hospitality hologram, aka Mr Hospitality.  
He wore his regular black holographic clothing, looked immaculate as usual and carried his ever present portable folio.  
“Excellent, excellent”, he smiled.  
“So are you gonna tell us just why we’ve been summoned here and what for?”, Rios demanded with his patience wearing more than a little thin and his will to live ebbing slightly away at the realisation that his holos were involved in whatever was planned.  
“Certainly,” Mister Hospitality agreed and clapped his hands slightly to the gain the attention of all those who’s attention he in reality already had.  
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming along this evening... You are in for an amazing evening of sporting entertainment to showcase the now complete training of the Romulan Qowat Milat warrior Elnor and his mentor and trainer Ms Seven of Nine”.  
Everybody looked at Raffi with questions, many questions.  
“Well don’t look at me!”, she shrugged, “all I know is he asked her to teach him some shit she learnt in the Delta quadrant”.  
“If they’re singing I’m off”, Rios shook his head, “and if it’s stand up comedy I’m spacing them both”.  
Picard placed a warm hand briefly on Rios’ shoulder.  
“Perhaps we should give Elnor a chance. Whatever it is he’s learned he must be very proud of it if he wishes to share it so openly with us”, Picard suggested.  
The EHH cleared his throat to regain the wandering (short) attention spans.  
“Alright everyone, please have your invitations ready for inspection as you enter!”.  
Everybody in the assembled group exchanged incredulous glances at this request, after all, there was nobody else here!  
With that the doors to the holodeck whooshed open, revealing a dimly lit  
sporting arena and roaring holographic crowds.  
With confused looks the La Sirena crew formed a small but polite queue to enter, Rios, Agnes, Raffi, Picard and then Soji.  
As each stepped in they were greeted by a smiling Enoch sat in a small ticket booth.  
“Invitations please”, he said to each entrant in his Irish accent before closely examining their handed over invitations (must watch out for fakes!) and exchanging them for a ticket, “Ah Captain Rios, you and your party are row A, seat 27 onwards. Front row, best seats in the house, you won’t want to miss it for the world!”.  
Rios said nothing, sighing and snatching his ticket before leading his party through the restless holo-crowds and down to the front row.  
Not so gently he pushed his way through the holo audience, “excuse you!” muttered one audience member, and headed on towards their designated seats and sat down.  
Again, the group exchanged glances as they looked for suggestions from each other before they all glanced down at some sort of circular pit before them.  
“Nope, still no clue”, Agnes shrugged.  
Rios stared at his ticket. The back was filled with lots of small print about terms and conditions but the front gave the event name, location - the holodeck, and time - 19:00 hours.  
“Welcome to Tsun-whatsit...the heck is that?”, he looked to the unheard of alien word.  
“Tsunkatse”, Raffi read it aloud from her own ticket.  
Rios yet again shrugged, “Tsunkatse, yeah I think I had that from a Japanese takeaway once, came with prawns”.  
A moment later they were interrupted again as Enoch clambered through the crowds of row A apologising to every single person he awkwardly passed.  
In his arms he carried three large pots of popcorn and a handful of little flags in his right hand.  
He struggled past and sat at the end of the party in the last available seat.  
“Wouldn’t miss this for all the tea in China”, he chirped and passed the popcorn along to his guests so there was plenty to share.  
Agnes and Soji took charge of two of the popcorn pots and began offering it around while Enoch kept one, possibly holographic, for himself.  
“Here”, the Irish holo called down the row as he settled the popcorn on his lap and began to pass the little flags down the row, “blue ones are to cheer Elnor, red to cheer Seven”.  
Looks became even more confused at this point but that didn’t prevent Raffi piping up “Umm, I’ll take a red one thanks” with a large smile.  
Once everyone was settled and had possession of a little flag, yes even Rios, Enoch gave a nod towards the pit.  
Mister Hospitality stepped forward from the doorway that was clearly the entrance to the pit and stopped in the centre, folio tucked under one arm and a microphone in his hand.  
He looked around at the cheering crowds, and La Sirena’s crew, and raised his hands in a gesture for the crowds to become silent.  
The cheers died down within moments.  
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to the first ever Tsunkatse match aboard the freighter La Sirena, and quite possibly the first ever Tsunkatse match in the Alpha quadrant.  
Tonights match will be a blue match between a newly trained Tsunkatse combatant, and the seasoned Tsunkatse warrior who trained him.  
This sport hails from the Delta quadrant. Both combatants wear polaron disruptors situated upon their hands and feet, and the object is to attack the opponents sensor discs located on the back and chest which, believe me, deliver quite a shock to the wearer.  
This blue bout will end when when a combatant is either knocked out, incapacitated or calls it quits”.  
Rios looked to Raffi, his eyebrows raised, “What...”.  
“..the actual fuck?”, Raffi completed his question as she returned an equal expression to Rios.  
“Are we here to watch a fight?”, Agnes asked, looking to pretty much everyone in their row with a sudden big and excited smile.  
“Perhaps it’s more a test of skill’, Picard responded in a more level headed tone as he sat with a little blue flag in his hand, “after all, we still know so little of the vast and complex cultures of the Delta quadrant”.  
“No I think it’s a fight”, Soji assessed the situation as she looked down at the pit.  
“So without further delay let me introduce you to our skilled combatants”, Mister Hospitality continued.  
Some loud generic sports music began to play and lights flashed as Mister Hospitality gestured his hand to the dark doorway, “First into the pit this evening and representing the Alpha quadrant... He is a feared fighter from the order of the Qowat Milat, bravest of the planet Vashti... Please welcome Enlor!”.  
The holographic crowd erupted into cheers and whoops as Elnor stepped from the door clad in a silver Tsunkatse fighting suit and jumping up and down a little on the spot whilst punching out at the air.  
Raffi smacked Agnes on the back a couple of times to clear the piece of popcorn that the small blonde had accidentally swallowed too soon from erupting in laughter upon seeing Elnor in his tight silver outfit.  
Rios winced, wiping a genuine tear of laughter from his eyes.  
Picard on the other hand seemed somewhere between confused and genuinely curious despite having no real idea what was going on.  
Lastly Soji watched on with genuine interest.  
“And now the opponent, representing the Delta quadrant... An xB Tsunkatse veteran and trainer of our challenger... Please welcome the ex-Borg Fenris Ranger from the Delta quadrant, Seven of Nine!”.  
Once more the crowd burst into wild cheers as Seven now walked calmly from the doorway and into the pit, her Tsunkatse outfit a very near match to the one she had worn back in the Delta quadrant and her hair pulled back into a simple pony tail.  
Raffi suddenly sat forward in her seat, her level of interest having been sharply raised by atleast one hundred percent and her expression became one of both wide smiled amazement and total amusement. Infact her interest in the Delta quadrant had suddenly quadrupled, not to mention also her interest in Seven’s tight silver outfit.  
She waved her little red flag around in the air enthusiastically and gave a huge whistle and a cheer as she looked down at Seven in the pit.  
Rios carefully chose not to say anything at all as he observed Seven in her silvery Tsunkatse gear, fully aware that Agnes was sat next to him clinging to his arm.  
“They’re... they’re gonna fight each other??”, Agnes mouth dropped open.  
“She’ll eat the kid alive”, Rios smirked and took a handful of the popcorn from the pot situated on his lovers lap and stuffed it into his mouth.  
Picard shook his head, “I wouldn’t be so sure. Remember Elnor grew up training in the ways of the Qowat Milat, he’s no amateur”.  
The ragtag bunch of now formerly unwilling spectators watched on with their interests and curiosity now firmly piqued.  
Enlor and Seven stood facing one another from opposing sides of the pit as Mister Hospitality concluded his introductions.  
“And finally, to ensure the welfare of our competitors this match will be overseen from the wings by our very own EMH”, he gestured again to the doorway as the Emergency Medical Hologram briefly walked out into the pit, raised a hand to the applauding audience and quickly made his way back ‘off stage’.  
“So here you have it ladies and gentlemen.... both competitors are ready.... you may begin!”.  
With that Mister Hospitality scurried out of the pit and vanished through the doorway with his folio tucked away under his arm.  
La Sirena’s crew fell silent as did most of the crowd, watching intently as Seven and Elnor slowly began to circle around the pit.  
Facing each other each sized the opponent up, scanning each others movements and posture to assess who was likely to make the first move and how.  
“Please my friend, choose to walk away unharmed”, Elnor warned as his eyes remained locked onto Seven’s with each step they took around the pit.  
The crowd cheered wildly upon hearing Elnor’s warning and little blue flags waved wildly in the hands of the hundreds of holographic audience members.  
“That was brave”, Agnes remarked and looked to the others for reactions.  
“Or suicidal”, Raffi nodded in response although her eyes were still firmly fixated upon Seven’s form and her smile continued to grow.  
Upon hearing the young Romulan’s warning Seven raised an eyebrow, tilted her head and gave the briefest of grins as she continued to stalk him in a circle, “I would remind you that resistance is very much futile”.  
With her words the crowd again went wild, this time with many little red flags waved in approval at the retort. Raffi clapped her hands together wildly whilst trying not to lose grip on her own little red flag.  
Picard screwed his eyes shut and momentarily cringed, “it’s fuTILE”, he muttered under his breath upon hearing Seven’s pronunciation.  
Before anyone could even blink both made a move.  
Elnor lunged forward at Seven at exactly the same moment she ducked down to aim a punch at his side. Both missed but regarded each others test with caution.  
In a blur of movements both began aiming and deflecting a flurry of full on punches at each other.  
It was Seven who first spotted an opening and took advantage, darting to one side and grabbing Elnor’s wrist as he threw one of his many punches. She pulled him forward and threw him forcefully onto the flooring of the pit face first.  
The Romulan hit the ground hard and the sound of the impact was audible.  
As the crowd went wild Seven dropped quickly down to her knees and aimed a firm punch at the sensor on Elnor’s back. She hit it hard and the energy released by the polaron disruptor on her right gloved hand delivered a visible jolt to the young Romulan’s body  
“Jeeeesus! She’s not messing about!”, Rios was both open mouthed and impressed.  
“He provoked her!”, Raffi shrugged full of confidence, “You never, ever, provoke Seven, ever!”.  
Raffi’s confidence was short lived as Elnor rolled himself over with the speed of an old Earth ninja just as Seven raised her arms to deliver a second and much bigger blow. With speed he lashed out from floor level and delivered a lighting fast kick to the abdomen which momentarily disabled Seven.  
Elnor leapt to his feet and delivered a swift knee to the exact same area before Seven could recover.  
The xB fell sprawling face first to the floor, winded at the two successive impacts.  
Returning the favour Elnor himself now raised his arms and brought a heavy blow down onto the sensor on Seven’s back.  
Seven shook momentarily at the shock delivered from the blow to her sensor disc.  
“You see, I said not to underestimate him”, Picard nodded in acknowledgement.  
Raffi however now seemed far less impressed and leant forward in her seat with concern. “Come on, get up babe!”, she yelled.  
As Elnor approached for another strike Seven swept her legs around with force and took Elnor’s feet out from right under him.  
As the Romulan fell to his knees Seven used this opportunity to scramble back to her own feet and press on with her attack.  
Elnor dodged as Seven aimed a well placed kick to his chest. He used the space gained from his dodge to regain his own footing and hastily stand back up to face the former Borg.  
Seven swung the first punch, catching Elnor in the cheek with her right hand.  
Undeterred the Romulan swung his own punch straight back also striking Seven firmly in the cheek.  
Several more blows were exchanged as the two sparred before Seven suddenly switched dominant hands and landed a hard blow with her Borg enhanced left hand.  
Elnor staggered backwards as he recoiled from the impact of the metal aided knuckles. A trickle of blood started to emerge and Elnor wiped his bloodied lip with his right hand to check.  
“Hesitation”, Seven observed with glee and shoved Elnor back hard so that he fell back against the rounded walls of the pit.  
Seven raised a fist once more to strike Elnor’s chest sensor but the Romulan instinctively blocked her and deflected the punch.  
Scrambling to his feet Elnor leapt up to the small platform that ran around the side of the pit.  
He lunged down towards Seven, grabbing her pony tail to pull her crashing backwards to the floor along with him.  
The two landed in a heap, Seven on her back and Elnor pinning her down ready to attempt another sensor strike.  
Keeping a tight grip on her hair with one hand the Romulan balled his fist and hit Seven’s chest sensor hard as he scored yet another hit and she jolted beneath him from the resulting shock it delivered.  
“Hair grabbing, goddamn it that’s a dirty move!”, Raffi protested with genuine irritation as she stood incredulous and protesting in the audience, raising her arms in frustration.  
Laughing, Rios reached up across Agnes and pulled his XO by the arm to sit her back down.  
“And I suppose Borg knuckledusters are perfectly ladylike eh Raff?”, he chuckled at Raffi’s obvious bias at the proceedings before them.  
Raffi humph’d and slumped back down frowning.  
Back in the pit Seven took in a large breath, forcing herself to focus.  
She noted Elnor considering his next move as he moved to climb to his knees and decided that was her moment.  
Seven reached out fast with her augmented left hand and grabbed Elnor tightly round the throat.  
The Romulan, clearly startled, grabbed her hand with both of his in a desperate attempt to force the xB to release her vice like grip.  
Seven persisted, moving herself back up onto her knees while all the time grasping her opponents throat.  
Elnor struggled still, unable to break the grip that robbed him of air.  
Moving once more Seven slowly rose to her feet, dragging Elnor to his feet too as the restricted air flow began to cause his breaths to struggle.  
The crowd loved it. Within moments there were chants of “Seven! Seven! Seven!” from all around the arena and masses of little red flags were waved all around in approval.  
Seven tightened her grip once more causing Elnor’s eyes to bulge somewhat as a small shred of genuine fear began to emerge within him as he struggled for each breath.  
“Quit”, Seven urged as she held Elnor’s desperate gaze, “just quit!”.  
Despite the ever increasing squeeze on his airway Elnor shook his head as best he could. The Qowat Milat did not give in so easily.  
Seven cursed something under her breath in response and planted her feet firmly in preparation for her next move.  
Calling upon her Borg enhanced strength Seven made a brisk move and lifted Elnor up into the air by his throat before slamming him down onto the floor and onto his back with a crash.  
Refusing to let go she again increased her grip on Elnor’s throat, restricting further the airway of the frantically struggling young Romulan and hoping desperately that he would surrender and admit defeat.  
The crowd was near fever pitch with roars, chants, and shouts of encouragement.  
“Don’t be a hero kid, just quit!”, Rios urged loudly.  
“She’s errrr, not gonna kill him..... is she?”, Agnes looked to all around her with an expression on her face that clearly showed that Seven was beginning to scare her.  
Soji leant forward as she watched with great intent.  
“He really refuses to surrender because of a warrior code?” she looked to Picard and cocked her head slightly.  
Picard nodded, “That is the Qowat Milat way”.  
“Fascinating...”, Soji remarked and returned to observing the fight.  
Raffi looked on as she tried to work out just how long Seven had now held Elnor in the choke hold. All around were cheering except for Raffi who had now become uncharacteristically quiet.  
“Uhh...I think that’s enough honey”, she quietly urged as she watched Seven still gripping the Romulan.  
Seven gave Elnor’s throat one more squeeze, almost entirely choking him of air.  
His legs kicked out frantically and the sweat beads ran down the skin of his face.  
With a sound of frustration Seven released her grip and Elnor gasped, gulping in several desperately needed breaths in an attempt to clear the fog that had begun to descend on his mind.  
With a cry of frustration Seven brought her fist down hard onto the sensor on Elnors chest, and then again. Two sharp shocks of energy then rocked the Romulan’s gasping body.  
All of a sudden a whistle blew and Seven paused on the verge of delivering her third strike.  
The EMH rushed out into the pit and knelt himself beside Elnor.  
Mister Hospitality emerged a moment later and spoke into his hand held microphone.  
“The match is briefly paused for a welfare check on a combatant and will resume shortly given the approval of the EMH”.  
The crowd boo’d in disapproval.  
The EMH helped Elnor into a sitting position and appeared to speak to him and monitor his breathing.  
While the EMH attended to Elnor Mister hospitality returned with two clear plastic cups of water.  
He handed one first to the EMH who helped Elnor take his and drink it with a shaking hand.  
The second he handed to Seven who was stood observing from a respectful distance. She drank as she looked on.  
The EMH held three fingers up before Elnor’s eyes, then four, checking his level of awareness. Once satisfied he helped Elnor to his feet and patted him on the back before nodding his approval to Mister Hospitality who then collected the empty water cups back before returning with his microphone.  
Once more he stood in the centre of the pit with his two combatants facing each other.  
“Ladies and gentlemen, the match will now continue”, he proudly announced, “three, two, one, begin!”.  
Cheers broke out once again from the audience as the decibel level went off the scale.  
“He’s a bloody fool”, Rios shook his head having clearly become far more engaged in the Tsunkatse fight than he had ever expected to, “she’ll tear him to shreds now”.  
Once more Seven and Elnor circled each other.  
By now both were covered in sweat, Elnor’s lip was still bleeding and Seven’s ponytail was working it’s way loose.  
Seven took a quick step forward, throwing a false punch towards Elnor to assess his current reactions. It was a mistake.  
Elnor, now fully focussed on regaining lost ground, ducked close to Seven’s left side and brought his fist around hard delivering a powerful back hander to Seven’s face.  
The crowd, and Raffi, gasped at the power with which Elnor’s fist struck Seven.  
She staggered, momentarily caught off guard, as Elnor struck again with two more fierce punches before he swung around and brought his foot up in a high kick which impacted Seven in the right side of her head.  
Elnor ducked in again, stooping down low while Seven was disoriented and firing off two forceful strikes which caught Seven hard in the ribs. A third strike hit it’s planned target and Seven again shook from the bolt of energy that was released as Elnor’s fist struck her sensor.  
Despite this the Fenris Ranger refused to fall and she forced her tiring body to remain standing.  
In defiance she stepped forward despite the sharp stabbing pain from her ribs and the warm sensation of blood that was starting to trickle down her face from a cut above her right eyebrow where Elnors kick had sharply caught her.  
She deflected a fourth Romulan punch and this enabled her to step quickly through Elnor’s defences. Once close enough she threw a low punch of her own, jabbing Enlor hard in the stomach.  
As he bent forward from the impact Seven saw her chance and headbutted Elnor square in the face.  
This time it was the Romulan who stumbled back as blood immediately began to stream from his nose and drip onto his silver suit.  
Sensing her opportunity Seven moved quickly to dart behind Elnor.  
Aggrieved, the Romulan reached out in an attempt to grab Seven by the pony tail to stop her.  
He failed, managing only to instead pull out the dark band she had used to tie her hair back with.  
Seven’s hair fell loose as she leapt behind the exhausted young Romulan.  
“Now that’s a damn hot look!”, Raffi approved excitedly from the stands as she blew an exaggerated kiss in Seven’s direction and gave a thumbs up.  
In reply to Elnor’s earlier kick Seven herself now struck out and swung a high kick upwards and struck the sensor that was strapped to Elnor’s back.  
He let out a pained sound as his body now jolted from the shock the device released.  
Like Seven, Elnor too stubbornly refused to let his exhausted body fall.  
He lashed out once more, grabbing Seven by her upper left arm and planting his foot between both of hers in an attempt to trip her.  
The xB herself lifted a foot and kicked Elnor harshly in the shin to distract him from his plan and then moved her weight in an attempt to throw him off.  
With a good shove from her right hand Seven managed to push Elnor off her.  
Both now breathed heavily from the exertion of the battle and the crowd again began to raise their voices sensing the conclusion was nearing.  
Exhausted, Seven flung a kick, hitting Elnor in his side.  
The Romulan replied with the best punch he could muster from his remaining strength and his fist struck Seven above her right eye where he had already inflicted a wound.  
Both commenced a new attack, flinging punches towards each others faces, torsos etc but with a much reduced strength.  
Elnor’s normally neat hair was bedraggled and clinging to his sweat and blood covered face as he panted.  
Seven’s loose blonde hair now obscured much of her own face as she fought, some clinging to the sweat on her face and shoulders and red blood beginning to seep through into her hair from her wound near her eye.  
One more punch from Elnor caught her in the jaw just as a punch from Seven caught Elnor firmly in the mouth.  
Both reeled from the blows, their breathing laboured and audible as thier strength left them.  
Despite the cheers of the crowd neither could throw another punch.  
The sounds of the crowd become nothing but an echo in Elnors ears as his disorientation grew. He hit the ground just a moment later, falling backwards as he collapsed onto the floor of the pit.  
As for Seven, even though she felt the rush of the nanoprobes coming to the aid of her wounds, dizziness from the impacts began to claim her ability to stand and her vision failed to maintain her ability to focus on anything at all.  
She dropped to her knees a moment later before finally falling to the floor and landing on her left side next to Elnor.  
Through what remained of her vision she could just make out the blurred shape of the sensor on Elnor’s chest.  
She raised her right hand with the very last of her strength. If she reached she could just manage to bring her hand down onto the sensor she would win.  
With her last few moments of strength Seven chose not to, allowing her arm to simply fall limp to the ground with a thud.  
There would be no victory today and Seven’s world went black as the crowd roared “Tsunkat! Tsunkat! Tsunkat!”.  
The whistle blew once again and both the EMH and Mister Hospitality emerged again into the pit.  
The EMH rushed to both fallen fighters and began checking pulses and lightly tapping their faces in an attempt to gain responses from them both.  
Elnor stirred first, placing a hand over his hurting head from where he lay.  
A moment later Seven moved as well, touching her fingers to the cut by her eye and then holding her hand to her hurting ribs.  
The EMH firmly shook his head this time as he looked up to the master of ceremonies.  
Mister Hospitality stepped forward and raised his microphone as the crowd murmured amongst themselves.  
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is has been decided that this match is to be declared a draw. Both have fought bravely and with determination in the art of Tsunkatse and proved themselves truly worthy of the sport.  
Thank you everybody for coming this evening, we hope very much that you have enjoyed yourselves.  
Our competitors will now receive the very best in medical attention and perhaps we will see them again here for a rematch?”  
“Over my dead body!”, Raffi snarked as she looked down and watched the EMH as he began examining Seven’s bleeding head wound after having helped her sit up.  
The roar of the crowd began to dissipate as the holocrowd dispersed.  
Rios stood, and nodded his head towards the exit, “Come on, fun’s over, I guess sickbay is where they’ll be heading. Lets just give them a few minutes first Raff.”  
“She’ll be needing more than a sickbay if she thinks she doing this again”, Raffi shook her head as she stood.

Twenty minutes later Elnor and Seven faced each other from where they both sat perched upon two separate bio beds in sickbay. A holo image hovered in the air next to each of them giving a readout of their injuries.  
Elnor looked dishevelled but was now mostly healed apart from his split lip which had now stopped bleeding, a large bruise was forming on his cheek and the bruises left by Seven’s Borg fingertips were clear on his neck.  
As they had both been helped into sickbay Seven had insisted the young Romulan be treated first and she had waited semi patiently on the bed as her ribs reminded her of their displeasure with every breath she took. Whilst waiting she had wondered with every painful breath just who the heck designs a ship with a sickbay that is only accessible down a flight of steps? Both she and her ribs would like would like a word with that designer.  
The EMH now stood next to Seven and slowly ran a dermal regenerator over the open wound by her right eye.  
He had already fixed her damaged ribs and was satisfied there was no major lasting injury.  
“You know, you’re lucky Elnor’s kick struck your right eye”, the EMH commented as he worked, “had it been your left we might have been having a very different conversation right now, and I’m fresh out of artificial eyes this week”.  
The wound closed up, healing more with each movement of the instrument until it was gone.  
All that remained was an impressive shiner of a black eye and several marks of dried blood that Seven was looking forward to washing off.  
The EMH gave a final look at Seven’s black eye before again picking up his dermal regenerator.  
Seven held up her right hand and indicated for him to stop.  
“Don’t worry, nanoprobes are on it already”, she nodded.  
“Mmm, nanoprobes, funny little things...”, the EMH thought out loud, “well then in that case I’ll go and update my records”.  
The EMH left them and headed away to the other end of the sickbay.  
There was silence as Elnor and Seven sat and both looked to each other observing their respective appearances.  
“I feel regret that I harmed you Seven”, Elnor spoke up, “but I found the Tsunkatse experience worthwhile. I appreciate you teaching me”.  
“You are most welcome and don’t worry, I’ve had far worse”, Seven reassured him, “but I took no pleasure in harming you either. We’ll both heal”.  
Elnor nodded in agreement.  
He paused for several moments before looking all around the sickbay, wincing in pain as he turned his head to ensure privacy.  
“Can I ask you something?”, the young Romulan asked quietly.  
Seven raised her eyebrow, wishing she hadn’t a moment later as the area was still tender, “Go on”.  
Elnor raised his hand and pointed a finger at Seven’s black eye and then his own split lip.  
“Will Raffi be angry?”, he asked with a note of caution in his voice.  
Seven shook her head and then looked around in the direction of those damn steps as she heard the sound of footsteps descending from the deck above.  
“I think we’re about to find out”, Seven responded as both she and Elnor recognised the forms of both Raffi and Picard as they headed into the sickbay.  
“Ah, visitors”, the EMH acknowledged as they passed him.  
“We’re here to see the knuckleheads”, Raffi announced as she swept passed the EMH and into sickbay. Picard simply raised his eyebrows and shrugged as he followed her.  
“And I’ll deal with you in a moment”, she said bluntly as she bypassed Seven and headed straight for Elnor.  
Seven tilted her head and gave a small shrug while the young Romulan’s expression suddenly became apprehensive.  
In her hands Raffi held two glass bottles, one containing a dark fizzy liquid and the other clearly a beer of some kind.  
She handed the first bottle to Elnor who took it from her with caution.  
“Drink this, it’s cola but with a Raffi twist, it’ll ease your muscles and help you sleep better tonight”, Raffi explained.  
“Thank you”, was all Elnor could think to say and took in a mouthful of the cola and noted its ‘addition’.  
Picard stepped closer and placed a hand on Elnor’s shoulder.  
“You fought well”, he nodded in praise, “Zani and the sisters back on Vashti would have been most impressed”.  
“I did not win”, Elnor looked down with a face filled with dejection.  
“Nor did you lose”, Picard answered softly and gave the Romulan’s shoulder a light squeeze before returning his hand to his side.  
Elnor nodded to the old man in return and took in his words for consideration.  
Raffi turned her attention to the still floating holo image next to the bio bed. It hovered in the air detailing a list of injuries...  
“Patient Elnor...”, Raffi read, “multiple severe bruises, a cracked rib, split lip, mild concussion and a broken nose?”.  
Raffi turned her head swiftly to face Seven where she sat on the bio bed across the room, “you broke his nose?”.  
Seven raised her hands in a shrug.  
“It’s better now”, Elnor reassured, “we both understood the risks”.  
Raffi shook her head in bemusement at the two injured idiots surrounding her.  
She left Picard with Elnor and strode towards the bio bed upon which Seven was sat and raised her hand to offer the beer bottle.  
“I don’t know wether to hand you this or crack you over the head with it after what you’ve put me through this evening babe”, Raffi said as she stopped infront of Seven.  
Seven took the offered bottle and gladly drank a mouthful as she wrapped her legs around Raffi’s to pull her closer.  
“I guess it was someone else I heard you cheering and whistling for then?”, Seven grinned into Raffi’s close eyes as she tapped her ear several times to remind the Ops officer of her enhanced hearing.  
“Damn..”, Raffi blushed and Seven smiled, pleased to have seemingly defused the ‘Raffi-bomb’.  
“So... Tsunkatse”, Raffi began again, “care to explain? No, no...Lemmie guess, Voyager?”.  
Seven took in a breath.  
“One of our more unusual adventures. Tsunkatse was a popular tournament I was forced to fight in after a fellow crew member and I were captured by those who controlled the sport”, Seven explained the story, “Voyager rescued us eventually but it does remain an invigorating memory. I mentioned it in conversation once and Elnor wished to know more. I complied”.  
Turning her head Raffi looked to the holo-list of Seven’s injuries...  
“Patient Seven of Nine... Multiple severe bruises, deep cut above right eye, broken finger (right hand) and three cracked ribs”.  
“That would have been three broken ribs were it not for Borg enhancements!”, the EMH called from the other end of the sickbay.  
“The Doctor has suggested that my nanoprobes apply for a week off once I am healed”, Seven quipped with the dry sense of humour so very few ever experienced.  
“Gimmie that before I have you committed”, Raffi plucked the beer bottle from Seven’s grasp and took a sip before handing it back to the xB.  
“Joking aside, Elnor fought superbly”, Seven remarked as she looked again to where the Romulan sat talking quietly with Picard, “I witnessed his skills once on the cube but facing him was...worthwhile”.  
Elnor smiled at the praise and looked to both Picard and Raffi too.  
“If possible I’d like to learn more about the fighting techniques of other cultures. Most of what I know is Romulan based but out here we could face any enemy with any skill”.  
Picard rubbed his chin and thought, “Back on the Enterprise D my security chief Mr Worf had a rather invigorating Klingon calisthenics programme on our holodeck. I could programme something similar if you like?”.  
Elnor looked pleased, like a child who had just received an early Christmas present.  
Upon hearing this suggestion Seven thought, casting her mind back over the various species of the Delta quadrant.  
“I suppose I could create a Hirogen hunting party programe if you really want to test your skills?”.  
And with that Raffi took a firm hold of Seven’s hand and gave it a tug.  
“Come on, that’s it honey, we’re leaving”, she remarked.  
Seven slid herself carefully off the bio bed. Her body still ached in various places and she placed her arm tightly around Raffi’s shoulders for support.  
“Where are we going?”, Seven asked through a wince.  
Raffi gently led the way as she held Seven, “First babe we’re gonna get you cleaned up and then we’re going to the holodeck for a Raffi programe, hot tub, champagne and chocolates, lots of chocolates...and don’t think that shiner of a black eye is gonna garner you any sympathy cos it’s not”.  
There was something endearing about Raffi and Seven’s unexpected relationship and Picard and Elnor both smiled as they watched the couple leave.  
Elnor too slid himself off the bio bed, accepting the support Picard immediately offered.  
“I will return to my quarters, I must meditate on all I have learned today”, Elnor decided and limped forward with Picard’s help.  
“What would you say you’ve learned today?”, Picard queried as they walked from the sickbay.  
Elnor thought for some moments before coming to his answer.  
“Never hesitate, never drop your arm”, he listed, “oh and, never get head butted by Seven of nine”.  
Picard chuckled, “Wise words”.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a couple of thank you’s!
> 
> Did the name Mister Hospitality originate from the show or a fic? I just can’t remember but if it is from a fic please tell me so I can correctly credit it.
> 
> Elnor’s fizzy cola is a tiny reference to Spinifex “The Freelancers Guide to Saving the Galaxy”.
> 
> Thank you to Trudy AGAIN who put up with me constantly wandering off to write this ;)
> 
> And I’m gifting this to my three favourite fic people x x


End file.
